Meh, that's just one model out of dozens form one of a dozen manufacturers. Hardly conclusive to validate the "a lot of laptops" claim. I'm sure someone else in the comments will point out some other obscure laptop from Acer or Lenovo that's thinner than a razor blade and has soldered storage. Fine, but still not "a lot of laptops". Just don't buy those 3 models in the world that solder their storage and you'll be fine.
>Most (all?) Chromebooks use eMMC storage attached to the board.
Thanks but Chromebooks are just ChromeOS devices akin to your tablet or phone, not actual laptops, nor do I buy garbage laptops with eMMC, nor would I know where to find one even if I did want to buy a laptop with eMMC since I haven't seen one for sale since the Asus EEPC from 2011, so no issue there.
>Even laptops with M.2 connectors still require a hundred screws, guitar picks, heat guns, and other insane things to "replace" storage.
That's a gross overexaggeration. I fiddled with the innards of several models of laptops from several brands and all of them are easy to replace the M.2 SSDs without special fancy tools and pain, just a screwdriver. Only Microsoft glues their machine together but nobody buys them anyway so don't you do it either and you'll be fine.
Conclusion: Myth busted. Most laptops on the market DON'T have soldered storage, and they're also quite easy to replace. Keep calm and carry on.
Yes I'm sure all the three Surface Go owners in the world will be devastated.
>Basically anything under $700 has a chance to be an eMMC laptop.
You must be joking. Maybe like sub 300 USD. I have a 700 Euro Laptop and it came with a 1TB NVME and most cheap sub 500 Euros laptops I find are all still with SSDs not eMMC.
SSDs are now so cheap you'll find them everywhere instead of eMMCs. You really need to go out of your way and scrape the bottom of the barrel to find them today in new products.
eMMC is such a nasty invention! We could have just had microSD cards as core storage on all these tiny thin devices! They make cards with good wear leveling.
The tech is already there, no need for soldered on stuff.
Soldering is kind of a "Worst possible solution except all the other ones" kind of technology.
Most (all?) Chromebooks use eMMC storage attached to the board.
Even laptops with M.2 connectors still require a hundred screws, guitar picks, heat guns, and other insane things to "replace" storage.